The hardest hunt
by erdervv
Summary: A short one shot, no action, no romance, no drama for this fic, just a hunter, his target and a dose of med-x. i higly recommend of playing the someguy2000 series becasue: 1) is awesome 2) you'll understand this fic


**Hi guys, so i'll try to keep this short, i wrote this after my last session at NV, i have a fairly large modded game but i have to say that of all the mod that i have of two i can't do without, project nevada, and whatever is made by Someguy2000, **really, i love you dude, i really do,** and i finally found Arthur Ribeen (wait, you took this long to find him? the mod has been around for years! yes, shut up, i know) so if you never played it or you never found Arthur Ribben in New vegas bounties 2 expect spoilers.**

**P.S. i'm not english and it's 2 A.M. expect poorly written sentences**

**P.P.S. i don't own anything, fallout is of everyone holds it's rights at the moment and NVB belongs to someguy2000ifiwasagirliwouldliketohaveyourbabies.**

**P.P.P.S. "******i'll try to keep this short" eh, i lied, sorry.****

He survived being shot in the head and being buried alive, he fought deathclaw, yao guai and come on top, headbutted a legion centurion and killed it with a bayonet, he killed the judge in his bunker protected by his slave bodyguards, fought Zimmer in his office and then he haunted Red Bear for the entire mojave, and when he finally found him he killed a man that was revered by raiders and the like as a god.

And now he was at what he tought to be the hardest challenge in his career, this time the courier had took a fight that he wasn't able to win, for one simple reason.

The courier watched the old man sitting on his right: he was looking at the ground, his shaking hand where holding an half empty bottle of whisky.

He didn't wanted to kill this man, after weeks of haunting ghost and rumors he finally found Arthur Ribben, and he didnt want to kill him, he couldn't.

"so?"

the courier returned his gaze on Ribben, the old man was still looking at his feet.

"have you decided what you want to do?"

He saw Ribben, early, when he confronted him with the proofs that he needed to expose him, he hadn't the eyes of a killer, of a crazy murderer that raped womens and sold slave, he had the eyes of a man whose son became a NCR ranger and died defending the damned hoover dam, a man that lost his wife and was raising his orphan niece with the caps he made rapairing junk for the people around novac.

"yes"

Ribben froze, for a second he tought the man had an heart attack, when he spoke he did it slowly, in a tone he hadn't used in years.

"i won't leave her alone"

for a moment he tought he saw a glimpse of the proud Enclave officer Ribben had been, but it was just for a moment, it quickly disapeard to be replaced by grief on the face of the man.

"she isn't even ten, she's deaf and..."

"i know" ribben looked at the courier, he had put his gloved hand on the shoulder of the older soldier, looking at him through the red visors of his gas mask.

"i don't want to kill you, nor to send you in prison"

Ribben looked as the courier offered him some doses of med x and stimpacks.

"but if i managed to find you someone else could do the same, an if i don't bring proofs of your death people will keep looking for you"

Ribben sized him, an old bounty hunter duster above some kind of black armor and the personalized helmet that some Ncr troops wore, on his back a highly modified laser rifle and a wattz laser pistol on his hip, all in all, he expected somethign more by "Claw" the man that singlehandedly killed half the population of evildoers of the mojave, and he wasn't expecting to be spared either, word was that Claw and the supermutant that seemed to follow him everywhere never asked for surrender or spoke with their target, that was the reason that scared people the most, the NCR offered twice the money for a target alive, still, even if someone tryed to surrender Claw killed them.

"a finger should do the trick, but we need a clean place and a sharp cleaver"

"i...thank you"

Later that day, Ribben and the hunter where standing at the entrance of the shack where he lived with his niece, the courier had shoved a bag full of caps in the hands o the old man.

"why?"

"because i don't think that you make enough money repairing broken radios to give your niece a good childhood, i'll come again in a a coupple of days with the money of the bounty"

"again, why you do this?"

"because i don't need the money-"

"i'm not talking about the money, why-"

"why i didn't beat you sensless and dragged your doby till Boulder city to get paid an extra? Because i don't need the money; i'm probably one of the richest people in this region, and all i buy is food and ammo, i have a hidden stash full of gold bars and enclave tecnlogy, i could live like a king, i'm not a bounty hunter because i need the money, that's how i started, i'm a bounty hunter because it helps people, i go around killing dungerous individual that threaten the lives of innocent people, you did horrible things in the past, that's true, but somehow i have the feeling that you already paid for it"

They stood silent for some time, both lost in their own toughts when someone broke the silence.

"mothafacka?"

they looked at the big supermutant that was looking at them with a confused face, Claw nodded.

"we should go now" said as he started to walk on the dusty road towards boulder city.

"again, thank you, for everything you did for us"

The hunter stopped, watching the siloutte of helios one as the sunset started to fade behind the structure.

"stay safe, we'll see often, my gear needs to be repaired quite regularly"

"i just want to know, what's you name?"

"it's Claw, one of my dearest friends gave it to me, i will be knew as such till i wear this mask, and i want to die wearing this mask"

"it's a strange name for a lawmen, it's more fitted for a fiend"

"my friend was also a drug junkie and i suspect he has been a rider for some time"

With a last nod the two figures started to walk in the direction of Boulder city, Ribben closed the door and returned his attention on the littel girl that was paintign in a corner of the shack surrounded by markers of different colors.

In the darkness of desert night the two companions walked, the stompy sound of mothafaka walking the only thing ruining the quitness.

"mothafaka?"

"isn't it nice for once to solve problem without killing anyone?"

"mothafaka"

by the way the mutant was looking at him Claw knew that wasn't the answer the green giant wanted, so he tougth about everything that happened that could have cause his friend to get in a chatty mood, many people after hearing him talking for a minute always tought that he was dumb, that was wrong, mothafaka was surprisinly cunning sometimes, he's only major flaw was the fact that he only knew a word, Claw believed that the FEV cause him some big neural damage.

"you don't want to lie to Captayn Scull?"

"mothafaka?"

"yea, i feel stupid, you couldn't care less, ok...is it about a drug junkie?"

there was no answer, the mutant was silent and lifted his head to look at the giant crater on the moon, probably caused by some weapon during the great war, it was an amazing sight in full moon nights.

"i miss Niner"

"mothafaka"

Somehow the mere mention of that name was like a dam overflowing, he remebered all of his friends, all of them dead fighting with him or assassinated by some overzealous fucker who tought that killing his freinds was a good way to scare him, heads rolled and granade where shove up places they where never meant to see, at least some of them got avenged.

"and Raul"

"mothafaka"

"Boone, Veronica, Arcade, Bradley, even ED-E..."

"mothafaka"

"and Willow"

"mothafaka"

"indeed"


End file.
